Tennessee Democrats begin debate about their party's founder, Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States and the first Democrat to serve in that office.
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States and the first Democrat to serve in that office.
photo Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States and the first Democrat to serve in that office.
photo Mary Mancini

NASHVILLE - State Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini said Tuesday it's time for Democrats to have a "conversation" about continuing to identify President Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, founder of the national Democratic Party, with state Democrats' annual fundraiser.

Jackson, the nation's seventh president, ushered in the age of the "common man," but he also was a slaveholder whose role in the forced removal of Cherokees from the Southeastern U.S. remains controversial.

The debate is now playing out openly after Mancini announced Tuesday that Jackson's name remaining on the fundraiser was up for discussion.

Her announcement took many Tennessee Democrats by surprise, although a number of other states, including Georgia, have removed not only Jackson's name for their fundraisers but also founding father Thomas Jefferson, a slaveholder, as well.

But in Jackson's home state?

"I think it's a terrible idea," said state Rep. Darren Jernigan, D-Old Hickory, of removing Jackson's name. "I'd stand strong to keep Jackson Day the way it is."

Mancini "may be creating a problem for herself that she didn't need to create," added Jernigan, whose district includes Jackson's historic home, The Hermitage.

The Nashville section of Old Hickory where he lives is named after Gen. Jackson's fellow soldiers' affectionate nickname for the stubborn, rough-hewn leader, the hero of the battle for New Orleans during the War of 1812.

Jernigan said he realizes Jackson has a mixed legacy in modern times, but he said it's important to recognize the context of Jackson's own time.

State Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, said she thinks Jackson's name should go.

"There are quite a few of us who are not comfortable with that," she said. "He supported slavery. The Native Americans, the things he did to them were just as bad, almost as bad" as the treatment of black slaves.

photo Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press - January 06, 2015 Rep. JoAnne Favors talks about her plans for the session during the Times Free Press sponsored Legislative Roundtable Tuesday at the newspaper.

She said the issue has been raised with several previous Democratic Party heads to no avail.

"If we're going to name it [annual fundraiser] for an individual, it should be someone more contemporary and someone who's values are more consistent" with Democrats today, Favors added. "We [blacks] were not Democrats during his time."

In her statement, Mancini agreed that when Jackson was elected president, Tennessee "was a very different place. In 1828, the population was fewer than 400,000, railroad connectivity didn't exist, and slavery was the norm.

"In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected because he captured the imagination of the American people," Mancini said. "He was elected because he believed that the White House was the people's house. He was elected because he believed that the voice of the 'common man' was heard through the occupant of that famous house in Washington."

That's the "legacy that Andrew Jackson, the father of the Democratic Party, left us - that the common man has a place in the political process and is no less important than the rich and powerful," she said.

But Mancini noted that "if we don't acknowledge the whole of our history, if we don't acknowledge Jackson's participation in slavery or the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands, then we would be derelict in our stewardship of that legacy."

In 2015, Mancini said, "we may very well decide to name our annual event after someone who better exemplifies who we are today. We may not. But either way, let's not shy away from the conversation."

During a subsequent interview, Mancini said she discovered "this has been bubbling under here for quite some time" as she traveled the state last year soliciting support from the party's State Executive Committee in her successful bid to become chairman.

The conversation has been "heating up" in other states, she noted, but added, "we're not just the Democratic Party, we're the Tennessee Democratic Party" and Jackson has always been a part of that.

Calls and emails flooding in to Mancini's office Tuesday were mostly in support of keeping Jackson's name on the fundraiser, she said. The decision would ultimately be made the party's State Executive Committee.

"It's a conversation that's going to be continued," Mancini said. "That's the overall response [against]. But that's not all the people who need to be at the table."

Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550.

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